Links - 9th February 2015

24 buttons | Online Fashion Boutique - "24 buttons core philosophy is to hope to bring out the most confident and happy face in every woman in all situations of her life"

In 2015, flying robot waiters will be a reality in Singapore

Matchmaking agency wrecker flip-flops on plea - "When Zhang Xiu Chun signed up with a matchmaking agency in February 2012, she expected success, but that was not what she received... "she felt that she was taken for a ride". It was revealed in court that Zhang was suffering from a "stress-related medical condition". He said: "It was an attack on her womanhood. She felt she was cheated into being a social escort"... After three hours in court, the accused was escorted out to be treated for breathing difficulties."

I lost weight by eating lots of bacon and cream. Here's a scientific explanation for why. - "I recently gained 16 pounds of body fat and I felt terribly uncomfortable in my clothes. I wanted to slim down, so I decided to dramatically ramp up the fat in my diet. Every day for about a month, I slammed as much bacon or heavy whipping cream as I could stomach. I lost weight (about seven pounds). My cholesterol dropped 10 points. My afternoon drowsiness faded and, overall, I felt pretty good... the real key to my diet was pork fat. A bespoke charcuterie, Boccalone, in San Francisco's historic Ferry Building imports Italian pigs. Boccalone slices the fattiest cuts of pork I've ever seen. I tried to consume at least a third of a pound of their delicious bacon per week. I almost completely cut out carbs: very little fruit and no grains... I ended up eating fewer calories. Fat is more satiating, per calorie, than carbs, and it curbed my otherwise ravenous appetite. I didn't even count calories; I just went with my hunger pangs. I ended up learning a very important lesson: that carbs trick my body into consuming far more food than necessary"

Sex: Who Has the Most? - "3. Jews and agnostics are 20 percent more sexually active than Catholics and Protestants... over twice as many observant married Jewish women reported having sex three to six times per week as married women in general.
4. People with Associate in Arts degrees have 32 percent more sex than people with advanced college degrees and people who did not finish high school.
6. African-Americans have 8.2 percent more sex than Caucasians... 25 percent of African-American men claim to spend at least an hour on each of their sexual encounters, compared to 19.4 percent of white men and 15.9 percent of Hispanic men. "I would be surprised if that many men really spend that long having sex," Herbenick says. "People have lives." She's intrigued by data examining different types of sex acts by race. "White Americans are more likely to engage in oral sex, and in some parts of the country Hispanics are more likely to engage in anal sex, perhaps as a way to preserve vaginal virginity."
7. Smokers are 10 percent more sexually active than nonsmokers.
8. People who rarely go to church have 31 percent more sex than people who regularly go to church.
9. People with a strong preference for jazz are 30 percent more sexually active than the average American... "Liking other types of music, such as rock or rap, was unrelated to sexual activity"
10. Artists and poets have as many as 233 percent more sexual partners than people who aren't artists or poets
11. Teenage girls are 6.5 percent more sexually active than teenage boys
13. Children whose parents read to them less than once a week are 33 percent more likely to be sexually active when they become teenagers than children whose parents read to them at least once a week.
15. Women of what doctors consider normal weight are 30 percent more likely to have had sex in the past year than obese women"

Why I’ll Never Apologize for My White Male Privilege - "Perhaps it was my privilege that my own father worked hard enough in City College to earn a spot at a top graduate school, got a good job, and for 25 years got up well before the crack of dawn, sacrificing precious time he wanted to spend with those he valued most—his wife and kids—to earn that living. I can say with certainty there was no legacy involved in any of his accomplishments. The wicker business just isn’t that influential. Now would you say that we’ve been really privileged? That our success has been gift-wrapped? That’s the problem with calling someone out for the “privilege” which you assume has defined their narrative. You don’t know what their struggles have been, what they may have gone through to be where they are. Assuming they’ve benefitted from “power systems” or other conspiratorial imaginary institutions denies them credit for all they’ve done, things of which you may not even conceive. You don’t know whose father died defending your freedom. You don’t know whose mother escaped oppression. You don’t know who conquered their demons, or may still be conquering them now... I recognize that it was my parents’ privilege and now my own that there is such a thing as an American dream which is attainable even for a penniless Jewish immigrant... Behind every success, large or small, there is a story, and it isn’t always told by sex or skin color... I have checked my privilege. And I apologize for nothing."
Ed: This is Tal Fortgang's Checking My Privilege: Character as the Basis of Privilege

What are some Japanese insults and swear-words? - "You may feel that it is worth learning some insulting words in Japanese, but the reality is that most people don't need to learn them. In Japanese, not using polite language may be considered insulting enough by itself"

Liberals are more emotion-driven than conservatives - "Emotions are powerful motivators of human behavior and attitudes. Emotions also play an important role in guiding policy support in conflict and other political contexts. Researchers at Tel Aviv University and the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya have studied the interaction between emotion and political ideology, showing that the motivating power of emotions is not the same for those on different ends of the ideological spectrum"

▶ Sabering Champagne - YouTube
Looks fun

University of Western Sydney study finds Australian babies understand Canadian accents better - "Until now it had been widely thought that infants were more able to distinguish new words if they were delivered in their native language... The researchers said the study shed light on why non-English-speaking migrants could find the Australian accent difficult to master. Associate Professor Escudero said Australian pronunciation of words like sheep, ship or shoot could be misunderstood because of the vowel sounds"

Israeli pianist Daniel Barenboim takes Palestinian citizenship - "The fact that an Israeli citizen can be awarded a Palestinian passport, can be a sign that it is actually possible"

Lawmaker Files Bill to Repeal State Ban on Dwarf Tossing in Bars - "State Rep. Ritch Workman says ban on tossing in bars limits employment opportunities for little people... The cringe-inducing activity was outlawed in 1989, when national controversy over dwarf tossing prompted the Legislature to ban it in bars for safety reasons"

Feminist Arrested After Being Attacked By Group of Men - YouTube
According to this feminist, a man interrupting a woman is sexual harassment

Entrapment (images)

Feminist Abortion Activist Burger King Employee Attacks Peaceful Pro-Life Volunteers, 'I Have No Regrets' (VIDEO) : Videos : BREATHEcast - "The woman in the video has been identified as Victoria Duran, and according to training director Seth Drayer (the man filming), she pushed him twice. One of the times was into a stationary bus, which can be seen in the video. In addition she got in their faces, tossing curse words, and destroyed some of their Created Equal stands. "We're smart about it. We don't want people getting hurt. We try to behave in a way we think's Christ like, and respecting people's opinions whether they agree or not," said a Created Equal staffer to Fox News, "We believe in forgiveness. If she were to say I'm really sorry, and told me she was sorry for she did,; she'd sound truthful about it, we'd even consider dropping the charges.""
"You’re just a white f—— privileged racist f—— male who doesn’t stand for women’s rights"

The Diet Coke Weight-Gain Paradox - "The September issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition just published a meta-analysis of the existing research on artificial sweeteners and weight gain. The conclusion lands in support of artificial sweeteners in the right context, specifically when they are substituted for sugar. People tend to see "modest weight loss," suggesting that low-calorie sweeteners (LCSs) indeed "may be a useful dietary tool to improve compliance with weight-loss or weight-maintenance plans." That might seem obvious, but several studies have suggested that eating/drinking these nutritive sweeteners actually leads to weight gain... Those are all just correlations, but consuming artificial sweeteners in isolation has also been shown to make people hungrier later on. Dr. Barry Popkin, a distinguished professor of global nutrition at the University of North Carolina, wrote in a recent literature review that since most artificial sweeteners aren't consumed in isolation, that's not really an issue. So the key distinction in studying and using these sweeteners is the idea of replacement as opposed to addition"

BBC Reporter Gets High as Fuck Filming in Front of an Opium Fire

Mobile Uploads - Social Justice Warriors - "Typical cisgender ableist people. 'Boo hoo, look! I'm soo fat!'. Try being a transgender, transasian, veteran amputee. All I want is to be kawaii..."
"As a genderless, aromatic panda with Tourette's syndrome and Hitler as a headmate, things are hard... KILL THE JEWS"